Three police officers said the extremists attacked the al-Rawdah mosque in the town of Bir al-Abd, 40 km (25 miles) from the North Sinai provincial capital of el-Arish.

They said men in four off-road vehicles opened fire on worshippers inside the mosque during the sermon.

Victims were being transferred to local hospitals, they added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief reporters.

Ministry of Health spokesman Khaled Mujahid said the militants set off a bomb during the attack, and that 75 casualties had been transferred to hospital. His comments were published on the website of state-run newspaper al-Ahram.

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The last asylum seekers have abandoned a closed immigration camp on Papua New Guinea, ending a three-week standoff between police and hundreds of men who had been prepared to suffer squalid conditions rather than leave